A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

March 31, 2006

Durrow sleeves and body have been united. It feels like I'm so close to finishing. But in reality the rows are very long and I'm still cabling on the sleeves. I've knit about 12 rows in the last two days.

My Sockapaloooza socks are suddenly and surprisingly almost to the toe. I thought I'd never get there. I have some purplish Koigu on deck for the New England socks for the Knitting on the Road Along even though we're supposed to start the new sock, Denmark, tomorrow. Denmark calls for a heavier yarn and I'm not sure I have anything in my stash that's right for it.

Speaking of stash, tomorrow is I have lots of pictures to take and edit tonight. Maybe I'll finally try out the whole light tent set up...

In crazy, annoying news, my regular mailman was off today. His replacement delivered half of the front flap of a Netflix envelope to me. Really. I found it and chased her down the block. I showed it to her and she said, "Yeah, that's all I have." "Well, where's the rest of it?" She shrugged. I handed it to her. "Do you want me to send this back?" she asked. No, idiot, I want to keep this half a piece of paper with my name and address on it while the DVD that I'm paying for is floating around in mail-land somewhere.I can forgive a mistake but someone who just doesn't do a good job and could care less really burns me up.

...after I host the coffee hour at my son's school, go to the grocery store to buy food for the two potluck dinners and picnic we're going to this weekend, go to the bank, make the dish for tonight's potluck, put candy inside Easter eggs for the picnic and drop them off at the picnic organizer's house! I also have a chiropractor appointment (cancelled) but I think I'll have time for a real post before then. Wish me luck.

March 29, 2006

A blog reader told me at the shop that her favorite posts were about my son knitting. Well, it's hard to build up blog content when he knits about two rows a week. But he is still knitting. He has been doing every Harry Potter crossword puzzle we can find for him online. Yesterday morning while I was checking my email he commanded asked me to find him a new puzzle. I waved him off, telling him I was busy and there wasn't enough time before we had to leave for school. In a huff he angrily asked, "Can I at least work on my knitting?" Uh, sure, honey. The small bit of black knitting is the platypus from Kath Dalmeny's World of Knitted Toys. I've done most of the knitting. I did all the shaping. We now need 51 rows of stockinette. He doesn't know how to purl yet so he knits a row and I purl back. As I've mentioned on the blog before, I don't say a word to him about his knitting. I am silent as the grave (for the only time in my life) because I know if I start pushing him or talking about it too much or generally expressing any happiness he will drop it like a bad habit.

Rebecca said she wanted more pictures of Hugo. Since he's turning 10 this summer he pretty much just sleeps all the time. The camera flash woke him up.

Have you ever read The Vegan Lunchbox? The blog in which a vegan mom documents the elaborate, tasty, nutritious lunches she lovingly packs for her child each morning. There are fresh baked goods, cute little notes and all sorts of healthy goodness. This morning as I put the finishing touches on my son's lunch I had to laugh at what a slacker mom I am.

That's two cold pancakes, two fruit leathers and a sour cream container filled with Cheddar Bunnies. This is a huge step up from the usual PB & J with a baggie of chocolate chips. As Wes and I always say, it's a wonder the children have survived this long.

March 26, 2006

We have massive spring cleaning to do around here today. Here are a few pictures of what I've been doing with myself lately.

For the shop I've been knitting this Fiber Trends felted hedgehog pattern. It is super cute and really entertaining to knit. I thought it would be fun to do it in non-traditional hedgehog colors, hence the lavender and purple hog. After I shot this photo I felted him last night. On Monday I'll take him back into the shop, give him a face and stuff him.

This top-down sweater from Knitting Pure and Simple is another shop project. I was teaching a class on it. Let me tell you. It is hard to knit an entire adult sweater while at work. I took this with me after work last night to finish knitting the body. I forgot to bring extra yarn with me--again--and had to stop about two inches shy of the bottom. The yarn is Madil Merino Mix. I used it to knit my devil hat last year. It's really nice stuff, very soft with a nice hand. Heavy, though.

I'm still plugging away on Durrow. The second sleeve is growing steadily.

I've been avoiding my second Sockapaloooza sock. I think I said before that something about this pattern/yarn/needle combo is not happening for me. I find it really tedious to knit. But with nearly one and a half socks done it's hardly the time to start over. I just have to push on through it.

March 24, 2006

I swear I try to do things other than complain on this blog. I haven't mentioned all the neck and shoulder pain I've been experiencing for the last few days. I don't know what caused it but it's been getting tighter and tighter. Finally last night it seized up so badly I could barely move. I was in so much pain that I couldn't get into bed so I sat on a chair next to the bed and cried. I was kind of laughing while I was crying because I couldn't believe how pathetic I was. I managed to get into bed and sleep on and off while wincing and whimpering. I'm sure Wes had a great night. This morning at my son's school another mom gave me the number of her chiropractor. I've never been to a chiropractor and wasn't sure if it was for me. I called my own doctor's office and was told I could be seen at the Acute Care Clinic on Monday. I explained the whole hurts-so-bad-I-cried-all-night situation and she suggested I go the emergency room. I didn't feel hopeful that they would do much for me there other than make me wait a really long time and give me some good drugs. So I went with Plan B. The chiropractic experience was definitely a little more touchy-feely, both figuratively and literally, than I usually care for but I could move my neck with tearing up by the time I left. I'm going back for another "adjustment" this afternoon.

I'm knitting away on the second Durrow sleeve. I've also picked up some fixin's for a light tent. I'll experiment a bit this weekend with it.

The two shops that are closing are The Wooly Monkey and Parkside Wool. Wooly Monkey is pretty well picked over except for novelty yarn. Everything is 50% off. Parkside is 35% off everything except needles.

March 22, 2006

Two local yarn shops are closing and are having going out of business sales right now. Molly and I made the rounds today.

One skein of Blue Sky Cotton for one of those cute baby boleros from One Skein, two skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk, some vintage looking buttons, one skein of Merino Lace in a Chianti color, one skein of Schaefer Anne, the Knitter's Handy Guide to Yarn Requirements, a Crystal Palace size 11 16" circular, Christmas Stockings, The Ashford Book of Spinning, a magnet board, synthrapol, Raindrop Lace Socks pattern, the Shoalwater Shawl pattern and Snow Country Felt Mittens pattern all for $105!!

March 21, 2006

I just finished charting the right front for the Knot & Cable Jacket. The pattern is entirely wrong. It's so wrong I went to the thesaurus to find a word that would more fully encompass just how freaking wrong the pattern is. My top choices would be fallacious, counterfactual and brainsick, although the latter would apply mostly to the designer. Not only is the pattern not centered on the right side or in the right order, it doesn't have the right number of stitches! As G.O.B. would say, "Come on!"*

I haven't knit any of the recent designs for this one. They just haven't rung my bell.

My Sockapaloooza socks, my Diamond Fantasy shawl and my Knot & Cable Jacket are all being knit from stash. I've also been using small bits of sock leftovers for baby socks.

The new sock is New England. I'll start when I finish my Sockapaloooza socks.

I finished my Leaf Lace Shawl a while ago. The new pattern is the Flower Basket Shawl. I knit this pattern last year so I'll take a few months off from this knitalong.

Folk Socks KnitalongI knit the Latvian and Country socks. The current pattern are the Norwegian Stockings. I don't want to buy the yarn for this project since I already have so much sock yarn and I don't really want a pair of knee high stranded knit wool socks. I'm sitting this one out.

I haven't touched this thing in a long, long time. I think once I finish my two current sweaters I will make this my main focus.

April 1st.

Oh crap. The skirt was supposed to be done yesterday. I have not touched my supplies since I bought them. I've been feeling a little too scattered and distracted to work on this.

I will consider this done when I have cleared the decks of my current projects--Knot & Cable, Durrow and Sockapaloooza socks.

I'm still deciding between using my Mountain Goat or Peruvian Nights. I won't start this until I finish my Diamond Fantasy Shawl and make some real progress on Frost Flowers and Leaves.

Diamond Fantasy KnitalongI'm making good progress on this at night while I watch TV. I only have about 400 yards of the handspun so this won't be much more than a scarf.

March 20, 2006

I brought my Leaf Lace Shawl to the Knitters Guild on Wednesday night for show and tell. So did Mary B. And Rebecca. And Peggy. And Molly just happened to be wearing hers. Evelyn Clark, the shawl's designer, was there so she lined us up for a picture.

From left to right: Molly in Honey Lane Farms Alpaca, Mary in Dale of Norway Tiur, Rebecca in handspun, Peggy in handspun and me in Kimmet Farms Fairy Hare.

March 19, 2006

You know those children's books where a child or creature, in order to find out the answer to a burning question, travels all over the woods checking in with all the different creatures? That was me today. After eating lunch in the food court of a shopping mall after getting the kids some new clothes I apparently got up and left with my knitting still sitting on my chair. I was making a little cabled baby hat from my leftover alpaca from the ruffled gloves I made a few months ago. I didn't realize it was gone until an hour or two later when I went to pull it out.

I ran back to the other end of the mall. It was gone. I asked someone at one of the restaurants where the lost and found is. He sent me to the information desk. The woman at the information desk sent me to the security office. The security office was empty. I went back to the food court and asked one of the bussers if she had seen it. She then went and asked another busser who went and asked another. No knitting. They sent me back to the security office. This time a security officer, straight from central casting, was there. I said I left a small ziploc bag with knitting in it at the food court and asked if any had been turned in. He looked at me like I had said I left a blue-tailed skink in the food court. (I did in fact see one person with his pet snake while I was eating. Shudder.) I explained again only more slowly and using my hands to illustrate what I meant by the words "small" and "knitting." He said he would check with another person.

Security Guy #1 (into walkie talkie): Uh, Steve, have you found a plastic baggie with uh...Me: Knitting.Security Guy #1:...knitting material in it.Voice of Security Guy #2: I need to confirm. Did you just ask me if I found a bag with knitting material in it?Security Guy #1: Copy that.Voice of Security Guy #2: Uh, that's a negative.

So I'm out one Dulaan hat in progress and an Inox 16" circular. I did check in several other places but I think someone must have just tossed it in the trash. Which totally sucks.

March 18, 2006

Okay, people. Telling me that you like the knot done the wrong way would mean that I have four done right and all the rest would need to be redone. Maybe the photos aren't a good enough illustration. The knot is a round cable with two diagonals running through the center that weave over and under each other. It's fabulous. It's my favorite part of the sweater. I love it. In the done wrong version one of the legs of the exterior cable just plows right over the top on the right, obscuring the knot. See it now?

I got to go spinning last night. Now I'm off to work. Have a happy Saturday!

March 17, 2006

I have not been happy with the quality of the photos I use on my blog. I read up on light tents yesterday and baby! What a difference. My "light box" is the shade to my lamp. It's off white and very small so it's not great. I just take another lamp and hold it up really close to create diffuse lighting.

I got a very color accurate shot of my latest project, a Dulaan hat made from some of my favorite scraps.

This is a tiny bit of Kid Classic for the cast on and first round, then Mountain Colors Alpaca Blend left over from my Clapotis, then Jo Sharp DK wool and finished with hand-dyed wool that I used for my last sock pal socks.

I also started the Diamond Fantasy Shawl in my own handspun merino/silk.

You know how you all said you couldn't see the mistakes in my sweater? Check it out. (These colors are not as accurate because the sweater is so large. I didn't have any white space leftover.)

Thank you for your words of support over my screwed up sweater. I'd like to answer some of your questions.

Charlotte asked, "Any chance you could snip a thread and separate into two pieces, knit the missing rows and then kitchener it all back together?"

I would probably spend as much time trying to kitchener the cables back together in a way that wouldn't drive me crazy every time I look at the sweater as it would take to rip it out and reknit it. I did kitchener on cables for the hood of Rogue and wasn't thrilled with my results.

Marti asked, "oh dear, that sweater just isn't playing fair at all is it?"

No, it isn't.

Leisel asked, "Never would have thought of duplicate stitch to fix mis-crossed cables. If you do go that route, is there any chance you can show some step by step closeups of the process?"

Uhhh, sure. I've never done it so at this point the whole "I can just duplicate stitch that problem" is purely theoretical. I'll also need to find a time when Wes can photograph me while I do it.

Emily asked, "Wait a minute. Is the two rows missing why you thought the front was two rows longer?"

Nope. The pattern specifically states knit the front until it is two rows longer than the back.

After posting about the sweater on Wednesday I did what any self-respecting knitter would do. I started two new projects. I'll post on them later once I charge up my camera battery.

March 16, 2006

I think it's getting a little boring here on Thursdays. I mean sure, I still post photos of awful designs but lately I've been hankering for something just eye-poppingly horrendous. Like carnivorous poncho scale horrendous. Just as I think I will never find it, a reader, Rebecca, came to my rescue. From Anthropologie's Everything's Better with Pom-Poms And Just in Case Add a Few More Pom-Poms Collection.

March 15, 2006

I finished the left front of the Olympic sweater. I walked it over to the back.

Mistakes everywhere! Mis-crossed cables galore! And the grand-daddy of them all--two rows missing from a cable repeat. How did I fuck this up so royally? How did I not noticed these things while knitting them? I think I can just duplicate stitch over the cables gone wrong but I will have to rip out a good 7 inches of the back to fix the missing rows. Crap! Double-crap!

Someone left a suggestion yesterday that I should watch Run Lola Run while at the gym. I had thought of that. In fact the music is on my iPod. Wes and I are big fans of the movie. Wes spoofed it a bit in this trailer he made for Wiggly World several years ago.

**Chariots of Fire is also in my Netflix queue. That should be good. Plus no subtitles to read while running**

These little socks are still damned cute. My short row heel and toe were much better on this sock.But I have a warning for you. Don't think, like I did, that just because it took 15 grams of Shepherd Sock to knit the first pair that it will take 15 grams of Koigu to knit the second. Because it doesn't. Nope. This little puppy is 10 grams all on its own. So I don't have enough yarn to knit the second one. (Stop it. I know this is the 20373489th time in the last month I've run out of yarn on something.) But I'm going to punt and just finish whatever I need to using this Nature's Palette. It coordinates nicely with the Koigu.

Handworks Gallery has solid Koigu on sale now. But be warned. Vanessa cautioned that she had a, er, less than ideal transaction with them once. I still took the risk and got myself about 6 skeins.

I am just a few rows away from finishing the left front of the Cable & Knot Jacket. Sadly while looking at the back length today I happened to spot three mis-crossed cables. I wasn't even looking for them. They just jumped out at me. How could I not have noticed while I was working on it? One is waaaaaay down at the bottom so I will have to suck it up and learn to live with it. Also anyone want to hazard a guess why the instructions specify that the front should be two rows longer than the back?

March 14, 2006

I snapped a shot of the left front of the Cable & Knot Jacket which I am still making pokey progress on. I'm almost at the armhole shaping. You can click here for a crappy photo. I worked on it at Purlygirls last night but when I got home I started a new pair of baby socks. I just love them. I love using up all my odds and ends. Love, love, love it.

In viewing news, I watched Bubble this weekend. I found it really fascinating. It moves along in an expected way but somehow the overall effect is so novel. It's short too so we watched it and immediately watched it again with the director's commentary. Soderbergh does great, informative commentary. The commentary on Out of Sight is some of my favorite.

My new gym has tvs on the cardio equipment with DVD players. I can't figure out what to bring with me. Most of my nerdy intellectual movies don't really say cardio to me.

March 12, 2006

Oh dear, these are the sweetest things ever.I don't think the photo really does them justice. These are based on the Ruffled Rib Better Than Baby Booties from the Summer 2005 IK, knit in leftover Shepherd Sock in the Valentine colorway. I left off the ruffle and was so excited I forgot to rib down the instep. My short row heels and toes are getting a little better but I'm still getting small holes from the final YO. Even though it's knit to an adjacent stitch it gets so stretched out it leaves a hole.

But I still had yarn left.

From the same IK article, Evelyn Clark's Itty Bitty Bear. Let me tell you she is not kidding when she says "itty bitty." So tiny. And best of all. This is all the yarn I had left when I was done.